Geltzeiler, The Envelope, Please — Part II (The Geltzies)

Most Disappointing Rookie- Austin Rivers

Even though Rivers went out for the year after 61 games, his performance was so spectacularly bad that he won the Most Disappointing Rookie in a landslide.

In 61 games, Rivers posted a horribly paltry PER of 5.9. He turned the ball over 14.5% of the times he touched it. He shot 32% from the field, 32% from behind the arc, and 54% from the free throw line. Even if he was a good teammate and an easy guy to be around, these numbers should be impossible to swallow.

Except that Austin is the polar opposite of a good teammate and easy to be around. He is a flat out ball hog who is your classic overdribbler. He can’t defend anyone and doesn’t care to try. Furthermore he walks around off the court like he’s God’s gift to basketball because he’s Doc Rivers’ son. He needs to take a page from Stephen Curry’s book on how to handle being a former NBA player’s son in the league. Curry works hard, acts humble, and lets his game do the talking. He should have never left Duke after his freshman year although he did Coach K a favor because of his on- and off-court demeanor while he was there.

There really were no other rookies whose futility approached Rivers’. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist didn’t have a great year for the Bobcats but he definitely showed flashes of who he can be. Thomas Robinson got traded by the Kings at the deadline, but in his limited opportunities, also showed flashes.

Most Disappointing Coach- Doug Collins

On the surface this one may seem unfair because Doug really is a very good coach and Andrew Bynum’s season- long injury clearly sabotaged Collins’ chances to have success with this team. However, for the hand he was dealt this past season, he couldn’t have played it worse.

Collins has a reputation of lasting around 3 years at a particular location until his ultra competitive nature makes people want to avoid him like he’s an overly affectionate leper. In Philly, he actually barely made it two years. Because his team made a playoff run last season that was largely fueled by the luck associated with playing a Chicago Bulls team that lost Derrick Rose to a torn ACL. The Sixers absolutely tanked at the end of last season and almost didn’t make the playoffs largely because Collins’ team quit on him. His relationship with Andre Igoudala bared some similarities to the relationship between the United States and North Korea.

This season, in Bynum’s absence, he was charged with developing some chemistry between the Sixers’ young building blocks.

Jrue Holiday, their young point guard, made the All Star team on the heels of an excellent first half. However, his 2nd half was not very good, marred by fatigue and poor shot selection as he seemed to tune Collins out. The 2011 No. 2 overall selection, Evan Turner, showed great promise last year, especially in the playoffs. This year, he showed nothing but regression on defense and no improvement offensively and also has appeared to tune Collins out. After a particularly ugly loss in March, Collins went on a tirade at the post game media briefing, essentially throwing his entire roster under the bus. It all culminated over the weekend with reports that Collins will not be returning as Philadelphia’s coach.

The other guys I looked at closely for this award were Mike D’Antoni with the Lakers and Lawrence Frank with the Pistons. Although D’Antoni walked into a tough spot 10 games into the season with no training camp and Mike Brown’s staff, he was painfully slow to adjust his system to his roster. Frank has a young team that was not expected to do anything, but the volume of games in which the effort was substandard was absolutely staggering.

Sixth Man of the Year- J.R. Smith

Smith has a reputation for never meeting a shot he didn’t like, and believe me, he’s more than earned that reputation. However, he grew this year in a way that certainly changed my perception of him as a player. Smith went from being a chucker with no conscience to the No. 2 scoring option on a division winning team and fringe title contender.

One of the more underrated aspects of Smith’s game has been his defense. He’s athletic and physical enough to be effective and rarely lacks effort. This season he’s upgraded that defense and became the Knicks’ best perimeter defender.

Also, up until this year, Smith has been a guy who has fallen in love with his jumper, despite superb athleticism that enables him to be a force off the dribble. Well this season, he became that force off the dribble. Last season, Smith averaged 1.6 free throw attempts per game. This season, he averaged 3.9 free throw attempts per game. When Carmelo Anthony was hurt for the Knicks, Smith did an admirable job of being the No. 1 option. In a season in which the Knicks have had immense difficulty maintaining a healthy roster, Smith’s stellar play on both ends of the floor has been a constant the Knicks can count on.

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The two other Sixth Man candidates I considered are Jamal Crawford of the Clippers and Jarrett Jack of the Warriors. In the end, as good as Crawford has been offensively, his defense is a big part of the Clippers issues on that end of the floor. Jack has been excellent this season. He’s been enormously important to Golden State’s success and his presence has helped Stephen Curry have a career year. I gave the award to Smith over Jack because I think the role Smith played in the Knicks success was just a smidge more important than the role Jack played for the Warriors.